Maybe It's Love
by angeli-sama
Summary: Kyou always knew Yuki was strong, so it never did cross Kyou that he would see the day Yuki would fall, nor did he ever think that he himself would be the one to catch the nezumi. What will he do when Yuki is plagued by nightmares? KyouYuki


Disclaimers: I do not own any Fruits Basket character.

Pairing: KyouYuki

Author: This fic is a joint work with dear westkitsune-sama. This is based on what I have watched so far and holds certain OOCness. Any mistakes pointed out will be very much appreciated. By now you should know that this contains shounen-ai and if you don't like that stuff I advise to no longer read, thank you.

_I watched the final two eps of FB, and Kyou just made me cry!!! –cries- poor Kyou-sama!!!_

_Dedicated to Kativa-Chan for the inspiring fic, Cat and Rat: Was It Meant To Be?… and to ELLIE who, erm, just because I want to…_

**Maybe It's Love**

"Baka neko!"

"K'so nezumi!!!"

Shooting death glares and stiffening remarks, one could see that the squabble between the two cousins was always what started a normal day in the Sohma residence.

_Crash_

A brutal kick from Yuki had sent Kyou crashing outside, _again._

There were just some things that will never change. And maybe, for someone who believes cat-versus-mouse is a never-ending battle, it never will.

Kyou always knew Yuki was strong. Yuki was aware of the abilities of the neko. Both were unwilling to lose to the other.

You might think that the cat always won over the rat, right?

And yet Yuki would always win, though… much to Kyou's frustration.

Never did it cross Kyou that he would see the day Yuki would fall.

Nor did he ever think that he himself would be the one to catch the nezumi.

Oh how very wrong he was…

They're only human, you know, despite of their 'curse'…

----------

Kyou's deep crimson eyes narrowed over the piece of 10-sentence essay he was supposed to be writing for a 'creative-writing' activity homework. Running a tanned hand over his smooth tangerine hair he racked his brain on how to answer the given direction.

Essay Question: Name the animal you would want to be and why?

_Stupid, stupid essay… I'm living through it already._

And so, he starts to write,

_The Cat is an animal that is considered domestic and is not usually accepted like other animals. They usually live on their own and is left to fend for themselves most of the time. Cats are generally hard-to-please and hard to understand; and they act upon instinct. I feel that this pretty much makes up my life so if I had to choose, I would want to be a cat._

Here Kyou paused. It felt weird to be talking about himself like this… he blinked down at the paper. He still needs five or more sentences, and at that moment he has no idea what to write. Annoyed he decided to just state his experience as a cat being an emotional ending.

_In the Chinese Zodiac, the cat was invited but was tricked by the rat, and the cat wasn't able to become a member of the Zodiac._

It felt so good to loathe the nezumi even in writing.

_Because of that the war between cat and rat had started into a never-ending battle. The rat is such a weird, weird creature that's so complicated that thinking about his true personality and how to cope around him will make your brain work double-time. Always the rat would win, but surely, there will come a time when the cat will be the one to triumphantly watch the fall of the rat. It would surely be fascinating to watch the fall of such an idiot that caused the expulsion of the cat from his family and friends because he wasn't a member of the Zodiac. After all, the rat was nothing but a proud, haughty arrogant bastard who has so much attention just because of his good looks and being the first to reach Kami. Sure the rat seems to have soft dark silver hair accentuated by the light of the sun, as silver as that of his form. He may have the largest, captivating, amethyst orbs like that of after-glow of the sunset but that doesn't mean he's better than the cat. Sure he has silken cream-colored skin and an air of strength no one except the cat has experienced, but the rat has its weak side. Everyone can't be that strong when faced with storms, I myself can attest to that. What could it be that the rat will fear so much? I could surely use it to my advantage. Yuki Sohma is no-_

Kyou's hand suddenly stopped writing, eyes darting down in horror at what he had written. Damn, got carried away again… it was definitely past the ten-sentence requirement.

His stomach gave an unmistakable squirm when he read the essay, frowning irritably as he read how he described the nezumi. Damn his too-keen descriptions, he sounded like a heart-struck teenage girl who's a member of the 'Prince Yuki Fanclub'. Pushing such thoughts away from his head, he read the last part of the piece - something he wrote that was really bothering him since the night before.

Maybe it's because he woke up in the middle of the night to certain whimpering and sobbing, a sound evident from Yuki's far side room across his. Hopeless-filled pleading noises was heard when he started to creep towards the sound.

Kyou always knew Yuki was strong.

But he hadn't really expected being punched in the gut in response to him waking up the bastard from his nightmare. He goes doing good and Yuki beats him up again?! Of course it started another row, which practically woke up both Shigure and Tohru, making the two stop in mid-punch to avoid upsetting the girl.

K'so nezumi!

Kyou tore the paper in half and crumpled it, shoving it inside his bag unceremoniously and huffed as he leaned against the window, waiting for Tohru to come back from cleaning up the Science Room with Hana and Uo so that she, Kyou and Yuki could go home already.

'Speaking of Yuki, where was that baka nezumi?' Kyou thought, and just when he was about to go searching for him he caught sight of the rat over the distance, speaking with a raven-haired teen whose eyes were deep and smirking. From this distance he could see Yuki tremble slightly.

Squinting closer he gaped as he recognized whom the rat was talking to.

----------

"I don't see why not, Yuki…" smirked Akito, raking his eyes in a scrutinizing gaze at the other's nervous form.

"Don't you… even dare…" Yuki answered, feeling the signs of attack starting up as he heaved heavily.

"Why now, have you gone too fond of her?" Akito murmured, stepping closer so that his hand was brushing the rat's. "Even of _him_, whom you're supposed to hate?"

Silence. The unsteady beating of Yuki's heart in fear and the wind lifting strands of hair was evident in the air.

"Come now, Yuki… it's been a long while since we spent time together, how about you come for some… tea?" Akito's eyes were piercing, daring the boy to say no.

"I…"

Leaning closer, Akito whispered in a ghostly, amused voice. "You know what'll happen if you say no… you know I have the power to accomplish that."

Yuki stiffened, and started to shake slightly more, but his shoulders dropped in submission.

----------

K'so!!!

Why the hell was Yuki going with Akito?! His thoughts flashed through what Yuki was pleading last night when he approached him.

_No please… Akito, please, don't… not again… it hurts, please…_

Coward. The bastard wasn't even fighting back! Dammit Tohru's the only one who could stop this… where was that girl when you needed her?!

Hissing in frustration Kyou took hold of the windowpane, poising to jump out of it.

Drastic measures are needed. He's the only one who will defeat that nezumi... or so he told himself. He hurled himself out the window and ran a little blindly towards where Akito was leading Yuki.

_Déjà vu…_

He didn't see Tohru appear just when he disappeared. The girl blinked and looked around, searching for the two as he approached Kyou's chair… and saw a bit of crumpled paper sticking out of the cat's backpack.

----------

Akito opened the car door, motioning for Yuki to step in. Yuki hesitated a little, trying to hide the fear in his amethyst eyes. He thought he had escaped this forever. For a fleeting instant he considered escaping, but Akito's towering figure squashed whatever idea forming in his head, his feet won't move and he felt he would fall anytime soon.

He was just too traumatized of him.

A dashing was heard from afar, and Yuki turned just in time to see a flash of orange hair before a tanned hand descended upon his pale one and started dragging him away. Shocked and speechless Yuki turned to see the deep frown in Akito's eyes, showing the hatred and anger that he always kept in calm façade as Kyou started to ramble on, not noticing that Yuki had stiffened a bit from the contact.

"There you are baka nezumi! You're keeping Tohru and me waiting you idiot. There we were waiting for you and you go off with someone else. You idiot you made me go all around _looking_ for you and-"

Kyou's annoyed voice droned on and on, but Yuki didn't seem to hear him. He was quite fazed at what just occurred. Kyou's hand, the one where the black-and-white bracelet was resting, was warm and soft in his, each gentle tugging that pulled him away from his almost-horrible fate was security that made his throbbing heart go slower and his lungs to start intaking air regularly again.

Once he calmed somewhat somewhere in the back of his head a voice told him to let go of Kyou's hand, but another part said he had no right to, and another told him to hold on tighter. He was so confused, so he settled in just enjoying Kyou's deep ranting and kept silent while Kyou continued dragging him home.

"Look! Look, it's Yuki-sama!!!"

Uh oh, Kyou flinched and looked back to see Yuki stiffen before a hyperactive High School girl practically _glomped_ him.

Making him transform.

Damn rat.

Scooping up the embarrassed rat and his uniform Kyou gave a twitching grin at the girl who was blinking in confusion and dashed away, running to who-knows-where, just to get away.

"K'so nezumi I thought your instincts were better than that why the damn did you not pull away you idiot." Kyou panted, sliding down one of the trees as he tried to regain his breathing. Yuki didn't answer except shoot the cat a death glare, who glared back up at the rat he was holding.

He wasn't really quite prepared when Yuki transformed back all of a sudden.

"DAMN!!!" Kyou cursed and turned away from the naked boy, blushing furiously. Why did he suddenly feel so embarrassed? He had seen Yuki transform so many times before… so why?…

----------

Tohru's eyes widened in surprise when she read the essay written by Kyou, noting the way Kyou described Yuki. Her eyes gleamed, and, folding the paper gently, stuffed it back in the backpack.

There are just some things you cannot avoid… she grinned, blushing at the thought of Kyou and Yuki together. She would love them both with all her heart no matter what.

----------

Dinner went by like nothing happened - a splendid meal from Tohru, foolish words from a grinning, fanning Shigure and even more bickering between Kyou and Yuki.

It was that night that something went totally out of proportion. The whispered sobs and pleading occurred again, and Kyou jerked from his peaceful slumber at the noise. Muttering curses to himself Kyou found himself stretching cat-like, and then padding towards Yuki's room to shout some sense to the disgruntled rat, just so that he could go back to sleep. He crashed through the door, extremely annoyed.

Walking towards Yuki, Kyou stifled a yawn. He looked at the rat and was greeted with the same sight as before – that of which drove him waking the other up the other night. Yuki was tangled in his sheets from the nightmare, beautiful face contorted in utter despair as the ghosts of the past haunt him, specifically, Akito. Kyou wondered vaguely what Akito had done to scare the wits out of the always-calm and strong rat.

Kyou hesitated, Yuki had blatantly told him never to wake him up again, and he didn't fancy the thought of being knocked the winds out of him if he ever tries again… but…

"No… please… stop… Tohru… Kyou… Akito… don't…"

He looked so broken, Kyou thought. So he furiously shook Yuki awake, throwing caution to pull back if ever Yuki decides to deliver a punch again.

Yuki awoke with a sudden gasp of air, tears glistening in his eyes. He lay there, breathing in gasps and groaning. Wide, purple eyes opened and stared at Kyou's deep red ones for a brief moment, seeing the concern hiding in the annoyance in those depthless orbs, before they settled to stare at the ceiling while he recovered his breath, muttering inaudibly an irritated "Baka neko."

After a few moments Kyou cleared his throat. "Er, Yuki, are you alright?"

Damn he sounded like a complete idiot.

"I'm fine, Kyou." There was icy hardness in that tone that seemed to strike a nerve in the orange-haired lad. As soon as he said that Yuki groaned inwardly in guilt. It had been so common to use that tone around the cat.

"Jerk," gritted Kyou and he started to move towards the door, when he heard Yuki move up to a sitting position. "Kyou…"

"What?" the other spat.

"Er… thank you," said Yuki hesitantly. He felt so embarrassed saying those words to Kyou, of all people.

"Whatever. I'm surprised you didn't punch me there, big change." Kyou muttered, turning to look at the rat with a questioning glance. "Baka nezumi… why aren't you fighting back to Akito…?"

"…"

What did he expect, an explanation? "I'd best be going, you won't tell me anything, I suppose," Kyou shrugged, "I'm not Tohru."

"No, you aren't…"

Kyou made an impatient noise, and turned on his heels and started to make his way to the door.

"Akito used to like to punish me, you know…" Yuki started, eyes downcast, he seemed to be fascinated with the floor. Kyou stopped. "When he came back, I guess it all started coming back again…"

Is this happening? Pride-filled Yuki Sohma letting Kyou in to his life? Intrigued Kyou retraced his steps and sat down, hands on his feet and frown in his face, the familiar look of him wanting answers.

"He… likes beating me up, I guess… I was always afraid of him. Sometimes it would only be minor, but sometimes, he goes overboard…" Here Yuki paused, waiting for Kyou to demand more, but when Kyou kept silent, he continued, relieved.

"Afterwards I would feel so filthy, so useless. He keeps telling me that no one would care for a cursed one like me, and if anyone did, he would make sure they would loathe me for what I am. He made me believe I don't deserve anyone, and I believed him, what a coward I was… I still am…" he tried to keep the tears at bay, and Kyou started to freak out when he saw tears on his cousin's eyes.

Yuki _never_ cried.

"Yuki…" Kyou started, blushing fiercely and trying to find the right words to say. He sighed, deciding to just say what first cruised his mind. Setting his hands of Yuki's shoulders, he stared deeply in those confused, purple eyes.

Kyou always knew Yuki was strong.

"Yuki, there's no use dwelling in the past. When you get through a storm, go on and never look back. Once you've gone past the darkness, all there is is light. Memories cannot harm us; you just have to find it in yourself to fight back your fears. If you haven't seen that strength yet, keep looking… keep trying. I guess we both tend to hide what we really feel, but… everyone does. Take it from me, you're stronger than you think…" Kyou cocked his head a little to the side. "Take it from someone who had been at the receiving end of your punches." He grinned.

Yuki blinked, once, twice, cheeks a little flustered. Then he erupted into fits of giggling, then laughing. Kyou looked at him, this time being the once confused.

He had never seen Yuki laugh. Sure it was more of uncontrolled smirking, but a laugh nonetheless.

"I never thought you were so observant, baka neko." He smirked then, eyes regaining their usual look when the two would fight. "Your lame attempt at copying Tohru's ability in giving advice is overwhelming, I daresay."

Cat ears and vein pops out. "K'so nezumi! Here I am _trying_ to comfort you and you're mocking me?!" his fists were clenched, eager to start on another match.

Yuki smiled at him, genuine this time, a change from the usual smirk and frown. This earned another deep crimson blush appear across the cat's tanned cheeks, hands flinching away a little farther and looking down at the floor to hide his embarrassment.

"Sometimes, you should learn to lean on others when you're hurt, you know… Kazuma-san used to…" Here Kyou covered his eyes with his bangs, cheeks still flushed. "Because you'll feel comforted… and- I mean, I don't give a damn or anything but-"

Yuki all of a sudden leaned against a startled Kyou, who stiffened at first when he felt soft silverish grey hair against the crook of his neck, he actually expected to transform into a cat because of the contact, which is intuition for him.

'Idiot, he's a guy for crying out loud and a Sohma!' he berated himself. So then he relaxed and placed a hand on Yuki's hair, gently running his hand down it as Yuki closed his eyes.

"Arigatou, baka neko…"

Kyou smirked, "Whatever, k'so nezumi."

Maybe tomorrow they'll go back to the cat-versus-rat never-ending war, but for now…

It felt kind of strange; two of them cuddled against each other, Yuki feeling too comfortable and intoxicated with Kyou's musky scent that he was dozing off in nightmare-free sleep for the first time in weeks; Kyou contentedly wrapping his arms around the pale figure and planting a soft kiss on the sleeping boy's forehead instead of punching him or fighting… but it's good for a change.

Kyou always knew Yuki was strong, and Yuki always knew Kyou was strong as well.

How ironic…

There's a fine line between friendship and foes, but sometime one will wonder if maybe that's the reason two people grow fond of each other.

Maybe it's the concern, or affection…

Or maybe,

Maybe it's love.

----------

The door closed, and Tohru silently crept back to her bed. She had heard Yuki, yes, and was on her way when she realized Kyou had everything under control.

Maybe they do love each other…

- Owari desu -

Me: Ok that sucks and is totally, completely, utterly OOC for both their parts but I like the idea so… I hope you enjoyed it…

westkitsune: They will, trust me.

Me: Hmm… Cat and Mouse/Rat: Opposites attract, I strongly believe they're meant to be, if only they weren't quite related... oh and I got wind that Akito's a girl, but I'd like to pretend he's still a bishie in my eyes so don't mind me…

WK: Meep! We made Akito waaayy evil here… him and his obsession of Yuki… I like that… there should be a hint if slavery here, or you know, that stuff. I was kind of hoping for a full-on kissing scene between the Cat and Rat/Mouse somewhere there…

Me: -nods- next time we should place one… -wipes tears- Kyou-kun...

Somebody asked me not to put much Japanes words so I'd like to translate them...

1. glomped - (not a Japanese word) from what I know it means to lunge oneself to another

2. neko - cat, nezumi -mouse/rat

3. baka - idiot, k'so - damn/darn or something like that...

4. Arigatou - Thank you

5. shounen-ai - mild slash / boy love


End file.
